Fighting to Find You
by TinyKawaiiYaoiFangirl
Summary: Gary's searching, Ash's hurting, and Professor Oak is.. MISSING?
1. Chapter 1

_'I know it's_ somewhere _near here,'_ the brunette thought exasperatedly to himself as he trudged through the forest at the base of a mountain. _'At least, that's what my PokePointer's_ telling _me.'_ Gary glanced down at the sleek little piece of machinery in his hand when it gave off another quiet beep.

"You are now within fourteen feet of your search entry," he softly read aloud and scoffed. "It told me I was fifteen feet away when I was five yards back the way I came."

As if to mock him, the device sounded once again.

"Oh _yippee_ , now I'm only _twelve feet_ away," he rejoiced sarcastically. Gary was about to chuck the handheld electronic 'twelve feet away' when it beeped yet again and he heard a quiet scratching from behind a large pile of boulders. His annoyance forgotten, Gary crouched and made his way over to the rocks with a pokeball in his hand. The spiky-haired brunette silently counted down from three before he leapt over the boulders and landed neatly on top of

 _"Ash?!"_

The other groaned painfully at his name while Gary frantically scrambled to climb off of him.  
"What in the name of Arceus are you _doing_ here?" Gary growled after he'd finally untangled himself.

"I- I was just collecting some granite for my Charmander.. I think he might be kinda sick, so I wanted to get him something to make him feel a bit better," Ash explained after he managed to sit up. He looked up at Gary when he stood, "So what're _you_ doing here?" Ash asked curiously.

"Gramps sent me out to look for an undiscovered Pokemon that he told me would be near this area, but I think the tracker he gave me is faulty." Gary held up the little machine as if it was proof. Ash motioned for Gary to hand it to him, and studied it for a short while before he started fiddling with the mess of wires on top. Some moments later, with a click, Ash smiled and gave back the PokePointer.

"The calibration was off; it kept telling you where all of the _zubats_ were hiding, just not all at once," the trainer chuckled— giggled, really— as he attempted to stand; Ash made it up just fine before he tried walking— but as soon as he'd put the slightest pressure on his right foot, his ankle gave way and he collapsed with a piteous yelp.

"A- Ash! What did you do? Are you alright?" Gary stammered with a hint of worry as tears were forming in Ash's eyes and he looked up again at Gary. "It's my ankle— I think it bent the wrong way when you fell on me." He sniffled. "How am I gonna get home?" Ash wailed.

 _'Oh for the love of-'_ Gary sighed. "If you want, you could hop on my back and I could carry you home?" He suggested, almost daring to hope that the offer would be refused just as Ash tearfully nodded and reached up with his arms.

 _'Tch, just like a toddler,'_ Gary surmised to himself as he hefted the other onto his back and bent down carefully to grab Ash's things.

"I luhphyoo," was mumbled into the back of his shoulder.

Gary sighed again, more heavily this time. _"What?"_ He said harshly, "Muttering doesn't do much if you're trying to be _heard_ , ya know."

"I- I said, uhmm... Thank you?" Ash finished with a question more than an answer.

"Tch, whatever." Gary started walking in the general direction of his house.

*~•~•*~*•~•*~*•~•*~*•~•*~*•~•*~*•~•*~*•~•*~*•~•~*

After the two had arrived at Professor Oak's lab, Gary gently sat Ash down on an outside bench that was beside the front door. He stepped back and stretched loudly with a long groan before he walked over to the entrance.

 ** _-Dear Gary,_**

 ** _I had to leave town quickly on an urgent business matter. You are to stay with Mrs. Ketchum and her son for the approximate two weeks I will be away. If you happened to have found the Kuwamon, please contact me on my usual cell number to leave a message. I have worked out all of the details with Delia and all of your necessities are already at their household. Please do not be angry with them, they are doing both of us a monumental favor. Do not gripe at her, either._**

 ** _Signed,_**

 ** _Gramps~_**

After he'd read it for the fourth time, he growled some obscenities at no one in particular and stomped over to where he had left Ash. Gary found the other snoring lightly, curled up on his side.  
 _'Adorable, he's sleeping.'_ "Come on, Ash," he said loudly, "we gotta go to your house, I suppose." Gary shook Ash's small frame _almost_ gently.

"Wha-?" He yawned cutely as he mostly sat up and sleepily rubbed a fist over his eyes. "Home?"

Gary had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing out loud at his former rival's display. "Yeah, sleepyhead. _Your_ house. Apparently, Gramps took off without me for a couple'a weeks and I have to stay with you between now and when he gets back."

Now that he was more awake, it took Ash far less time to process what had been said.

"Wait, _you_ need to live with _me_..," he received a confirming nod, "for two _weeks?!'_

Gary sighed and ran a hand through his spiked hair. "Seems like it to me," was the bored reply.

Ash groaned as he flopped back down onto the stone bench— and instantly regretted it. _"Owwwch,"_ he complained, causing Gary to accidentally let a laugh slip, "Come on ya loser," he chuckled. "I'll put up my white flag if you put up yours," Gary offered as a truce. Ash took a moment to think and nodded. "Fine, but you get to explain _this_ to my mom," he said, gesturing to his swelling ankle. Gary shrugged, "Alright," he reached for Ash, "Come on then."

*~•~•*~*•~•*~*•~•*~*•~•*~*•~•*~*•~•*~*•~•*~*•~•~*

After they'd made it the short trek to Ash's house, Gary figured he should be thinking of how to apologize to Delia for Ash. However, the moment he'd opened the door, Delia was bustling to and fro distractedly. So Gary took this opportune moment to carry his 'delivery' over to the couch to set it down. "I'll go get some ice and bandages," he told Ash and ran off about five steps before he turned and asked, "where's your first aid stuff?"

"Ice would be in the kitchen and the first aid kit is in the cupboard over the bathroom sink." He noticed Gary open his mouth again and quickly added, "Second door on the left down the hall behind you."

Gary nodded his thanks and walked to the bathroom to open the medicine cabinet over the sink and pull down the kit. After he made sure there were enough bandages for Ash's ankle, Gary returned to the living room to set his load down on the table in front of Ash.

Kneeling down on the carpet, Gary took the injured foot and gently began to assess the damage. "I have to take off your socks and shoes now, alright Ash?" Gary stated calmly; he knew this would probably hurt at least a bit.

"O- okay," was the stuttered reply.


	2. Chapter 2

Gary untied the shoelaces and began coaxing the shoe off of Ash's foot; however, when Ash was unable to stop whimpering, Gary sat back and sighed. "Maybe we should get your mother, she'd know more than I do with this kind of stuff."

The raven-haired boy stiffened. _"No!"_ He shouted before he could clap his hands over his mouth.

 _'Ugh, mulish as always,'_ Gary thought exasperatedly to himself. However, frantic footsteps towards the pair told them that Ash didn't quite keep himself as quiet as he would've liked. Soon after, Delia's 'mother-voice' rang through the house as sharp as a Scyther's claw: "ASH KETCHUM! I TOLD YOU TO BE HOME NEARLY _TWO HOURS_ AGO." Delia appeared in the doorway. "Where have you _been?_ I told you that Professor Oak is having G- _Gary!"_ She had paused long enough in her ranting to finally notice the other young man sitting in her living room. "I'm sorry honey, if I'd've known you were here, I would have had supper ready."

Gary shook his head dismissively. "That's alright, but I think Ash hurt his ankle. If you would be so kind as to-"

"Oh of course! I'm sorry I didn't see it earlier," Delia apologized as she bustled over and knelt beside Gary, tsking to herself as she joined him in front of Ash. "I'll need you to fetch me a bowl of ice water and a clean rag. The bowls are to the left of the refrigerator and the washcloths are under the sink," she listed out before Gary scrambled to do as she said.

Moments later, Gary returned with a few rags and the ice water. He set them beside Delia, walked over to her left, and sat. "Alright," she said authoritatively. "You're going to have to give him your hand, Gary."

 _"What?!"_ The two boys were each as hesitant as the other to... _Hold hands._

She sighed tiredly. "It's going to hurt him a lot less if he has something to squeeze," Delia explained quickly.

"O- oh," they replied together. Ash looked away in the other direction as he slowly held his hand out for Gary to take.

The other, equally as reluctantly, grasped Ash's hand in his own.

 _'It's so tiny.'_ Gary was shocked as his hand dwarfed his former rival's. He glanced at Ash's face and his apprehension faded slightly when he noticed a bright pink blush that was slowly creeping its way up from Ash's neck.  
 _'He really doesn't know how cute he's acting, does he?'_ Gary smirked to himself before his eyes widened and he shook his head as if the act could dislodge the very thought that Ash could be seen as cute.

Delia cleared her throat again to get the brunette's attention. "I was asking if you needed my help with tending your scrapes." She repeated.

"No, I'll be fine. Thank you, Mrs. Ketchum." Gary declined with another shake of his head.

Delia smiled wryly. "Mrs. Ketchum is my mother-in-law's name. Please call me Delia."

Gary returned her smile. "Oh, I'm sorry Mrs. Ke- I mean, Delia." The young boy stuttered before Ash's mother chuckled.

"You're fine, Gary. Alright, you've obviously got a sprain here, Ash. Now I'm going to need to get your sneakers off so I can bandage it. I'll try to be as quick and painless as possible; so by the count of five, I'll have them off, okay?"

Ash nodded and clenched his eyes shut, and Gary was almost shocked to realize that Ash's hands where trembling more than the last leaf on the oak tr-

 **I mean, rowan- no, wait, birch tre-.**

 **Oh, never mind. His hand was shaking, okay?**

Gary returned his attention to Delia just in time for her to start counting down:

"Here we go, Ash. On~e. Tw~o. Thr~ee. Fou-." She all but yanked off her son's shoe. Ash bit his bottom lip hard enough to make it bleed as he clutched to Gary's hand for dear life.

Delia set the shoe down and reached over to soak the cloth in the ice water, then laid it on the raven-haired boy's ankle. "There, that wasn't so bad, was it?" She reassured Ash before she turned to the other young man. "And Gary, our guest room is kind of in shambles as of now. So if it's alright with you, I'll just have you bunk with Ash. Unless you'd rather sleep on the couch, that is?" Delia would never let someone stay over without them having their own bedroom, but she felt as if it was necessary to voluntell Ash's room to this particular guest.


End file.
